Vehicle maintenance and repair contributes most to transportation inflation in past year

The Bureau of Transportation Statistics’ most recent Consumer Price Index report shows motor vehicle maintenance and repair has contributed the most to inflation for transportation goods and services between January 2025 and January 2026. 

The year-over-year percent change in all transportation and non-transportation items was 2.4%. However, overall transportation fell 1.1% when comparing January 2026 to the same month in 2025. 

“Motor vehicle maintenance and repair contributed the most to inflation, rising 4.9% year-over-year and contributing 2.1% to the annual change in the price of all goods and services,” the report says. 

Airfare followed with a 0.9% increase, and motor vehicle insurance took the third top spot with a 0.6% increase. New vehicles also increased 0.6%. Used cars and trucks decreased 2.5%, and leased cars and trucks fell 1%. 

CCC’s Q4 Crash Course report showed that, as inflation cooled, repair costs continued to steadily climb with the total cost of repair growing from $4,700 to $4,768 through Q3. 

Average labor remained down year-over-year. Initial results through Q3 show a decrease of 0.7 hours per repair. Yet, labor rates continued to increase year-over-year, going up by 3% through September, the report says. 

Repairers are also having to adjust workflows, invest in new tools and training, and coordinate more tightly with insurers as the electronic and software components of repairs expand. Last year, diagnostics and calibrations were embedded even more into the modern repair process, with 88% of DRP estimates that included scans and calibrations increasing by more than 35%.

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Feature Photo courtesy of SimonSkafar/iStock

Embedded graphic courtesy Bureau of Transportation Statistics’